Tag: natural makeup

Hello you, and welcome to inside the mind of an Obsessive Compulsive Designer.

Let’s talk about a less than glamorous product today, deodorant. Last month I purchase the Lavanila deodorant to replace the basic name brand deodorant I was using. Once a lovely friend of mine recommended it to me and explained why she purchased it, I threw my old deodorant away immediately.

Go ahead and grab your deodorant and read the ingredient list. I’m assuming you won’t be able to pronounce half of the chemicals. All those nasty chemicals seep into your skin and with the location being a little too close to the ta-ta’s makes me nervous. Cancer studies are done on all of the nasty chemicals and some are finding a link to breast cancer. NO THANK YOU. I’d rather go natural and safe than risk anything in that department.

I’ve been working on transitioning to more ethical and natural products so I’m very happy with the change I’ve made with this product. I like Lavanila as a brand because they make their products very transparent. There’s no guessing on ingredients and the company’s methods. Natural, vegan, and cruelty free. What more could you ask for? But as always, do your own research before buying anything. I bet you’ll be as disgusted as I was when I read into my old deodorant ingredient list.

I’ve noticed that this deodorant isn’t as strong as the old one I was using. Mostly because Lavanila isn’t crammed full of harmful chemicals that interfere with your body. It definitely works and does it’s job, don’t get me wrong. I love this product and will continue to purchase it in the future! I highly recommend you try it out.

Hello you, and welcome to inside the mind of an Obsessive Compulsive Designer

If you’re a makeup junkie or maybe just very particular about your makeup, you know that a mascara can make or break your look. If you accidentally pick up a bad mascara it can be very frustrating to try and take it off, as it’s normally the last step of your eye makeup. I’ve tested quite a few mascaras and can definitely say that I’m picky when it comes to the formulas. Before I started my transition into buying cruelty free products, my favorite mascara was hands down the L’Oréal Voluminous Carbon Black. After I switched from that I spent a few months bouncing back and forth between mascaras trying to find the right fit but I found my new love in this one!

The Wet N’ Wild Max VOLUME PLUS Mascara has quickly become my ultimate mascara. I would be lost if they ever decided to discontinue it. It doesn’t clump up when layering and does exactly what the name lets on, adds volume plus length. I love this mascara! I used this on my wedding day and every day since! I’m now on my second tube of this, which shows just how much I love this. It’s the most natural looking mascara I’ve ever used!

If you’re in the market for a new mascara, I would definitely recommend trying this bad boy out. Since its Wet N’ Wild, you know that the price is just right! I’m not sure why this isn’t hyped up more often but I love it! Leave a comment below and let me know what your favorite cruelty free mascara is!

Hello you, and welcome to inside the mind of an Obsessive Compulsive Designer

I wanted to take today to talk about something a little more serious and scary about a topic very near and dear to me – makeup. I was recently contacted by a lovely woman from Consumer Safety and during our conversation she made me a little more aware to what exactly is in our everyday products. She sent me this big PDF with lists of harmful chemicals (chemicals I couldn’t even pronounce), what harm they inflict on us, and what products most often contain them. She sent me this more compact and cute version of the list for ease of all my readers so I have attached it above.

Naturally, I was like “Okay, that’s scary but I use a lot of natural products. I’m not too worried about this.” I went through my beauty products and found most all of them contained these nasty chemicals. I was astonished at just how many had them! I knew some of them were bound to be laced with these nasty cancer-causing chemicals but OMG. My beloved RCMA powder that I use every single day contains two ingredients: Silicon and TALC. Essentially, I’ve been setting my under eyes with powdered poison. I think some big changes are in order! I need to go through my products and really switch over to some more natural products.

Ignorance is bliss; but I’m so glad she opened my eyes to what some of those unpronounceable chemicals are in my products. It’s time for me to make a change and lessen the chance of damaging my skin or body. It seems like everything nowadays gives us cancer, am I right? Well, I’m definitely going to be making some changes that lessen that chance from coming from my beauty drawer!

Leave me a comment below and let me know if you guys are in the same boat. Where you just as blind to it as I was?

Hello you, and welcome to inside the mind of an Obsessive Compulsive Designer

I’ve had these products for a little over a month now and I feel like I’ve used them all enough to give a good review on my thoughts/experiences. I’m overall very pleased with all my purchases which I was expecting. I tried to research the products to the best of my ability since most all of these products were for my big day. So, without further ado, let’s get into the products.

This mask has been great and I feel like it’s actually doing its job. My face feels so much better after using it. I definitely don’t use it more than once a week; so, I’ve worked it into my weekend pamper routine and I’m thoroughly enjoying it!

I don’t know why it took me so long to try this! This powder is amazing. I’ve been using it to bake my under eye area and lightly dusting it all over my face to set my foundation. It looks so natural and keeps my concealer from creasing under my eyes. Amazing product and I highly recommend it!

I used this foundation the week prior to my wedding and on the big day itself. It was an amazing full coverage foundation that wore well throughout the day. It photographed beautifully all day and night. However, I did return it to Sephora afterwards because I prefer a more natural foundation for my day to day life. I don’t attend many extravagant events that would prompt me to keep it around. If a beautiful full coverage is what you’re looking for, I highly recommend this product.

This brush is amazing and paired so well with the Hourglass Stick Foundation, which was my intent when purchasing it. With taking back the Hourglass foundation, I also returned this. I prefer my Born This Way foundation application with my trusty Beauty Blender. I was sad to see this brush go; but, again, I had no need for it to just sit around in my makeup collection

I’ll definitely be repurchasing this product again and again after I use it up. I’ve been using it every day after I’m done with my makeup. It blends the powder so well into the foundation that no matter how much makeup you pack on, you won’t look cakey. Love this stuff!

This color is to die for and my ultimate go-to when I’m painting my nails. The formula was great as well! I used this polish for my toes on the big day and the color is still on! I’m very impressed! I’m eager to see how well it lasts on my fingernails once I need to repaint them. I’ll keep you updated!

As I said in my previous post, these lashes are the perfect amount of wispy and fluffy. They looked amazing. I had many people ask me if they were real or eyelash extensions. I didn’t use the eyelash glue that came with the lashes; instead, I used my trusty Ardell clear glue. I look forward to trying more Vegas Nay lashes in the future!

I had a lot of winners in this haul (thank goodness). It’s always a great feeling to add more essential products to the arsenal. I hope you enjoyed learning a little more about these products and I hope you try some out. Let me know in the comments below if you have any recommendations for me to try out next!

Hello you, and welcome to inside the mind of an Obsessive Compulsive Designer

I’ll be the first to admit that in the mornings, I can hardly be bothered to do my makeup (or really anything for that matter). I’ve started picking out my outfits the night before because I know if I let myself do it in the morning, it won’t be pretty. However, I’ve been doing essentially the same makeup for the past few years and have committed it to muscle memory (Go me!). Today, I wanted to share it with you because it is honestly the easiest tutorial EVER. I’m not a professional makeup artist by any means; but, I do know when in doubt – blend. 😉 For this look I’m going to use my trusty Too Faced Natural Eyes Eye Shadow palette. Having this palette isn’t a necessity to recreate this look, you can use any natural colors that you already have! If you are interested in this palette, feel free to check out my post about it and see some of the swatches for yourself!

Step 1 : Prime

Whether you work full time, you’re going to school, or whatever you do with your life – ALWAYS prime your eyelids. You’ll get the best color payoff and you won’t have to worry about your eyeshadow creasing. But what do you do when it’s 6 am and you can’t be bothered to prime? Do like me! I just take whatever concealer is left on my beauty blender and use that on my eyelids and this does the trick!

Step 2 : Setting Powder

I like to use my RCMA powder to set my eyelids because I’m already using it to bake my under eye concealer. Don’t overcomplicate your life in the morning, just use whatever you have handy. If you’re looking for a setting shade in this palette, I like using Heaven.

Step 3 : Transition Shade

The first real step to the eyeshadow look is to find the perfect crease shade. I find that the color Nudie is the perfect crease shade. It’s not too far off from my skin color and it has a hint of gray to it. (A shade with a grayer tint to it will help you create the look of natural shadow.) I buff this all over my crease and blend it upwards. There isn’t really a rhyme or reason to how much I apply, just until I like the color.

Step 4 : Outer Corner

I like to pick a deeper color for my outer corner to give the look some depth. Cashmere Bunny has really proven to be a gorgeous shade for that! I definitely don’t over-do this since it is just an everyday look. After you get off work, you can pop a darker shade there to really smoke out the look and take it to a night-time look, like Sexpresso.

Step 5 : POP!

I like to add a little shimmer to my everyday look so it isn’t too plain and simple. (Because let’s face it, I’m not a plain and simple kind of girl!) I’ll use a flatter brush to pack on Push-Up to the inner two thirds of my eyelid. Afterwards I’ll take a blending brush and blend the darker shade and shimmer together for a seamless transition.

Step 6 : Inner Corner Highlight

Taking Silk Teddy on a small definer brush to the inner corner adds the necessary last touch to the look!

Step 7 : Volume

Most of the time, I like taking a small packing brush and coat the area where my eyelashes and eyelids meet with Sexpresso. It’s a much softer look than eyeliner and adds a bit of volume to your lashes to make them appear fuller. Completely unnecessary step, but I LOVE the way it looks.

Now, you’re ready to rock the day (and look put together while doing so)! Check out my Must Have Makeup Brushes post to see an up close look at the brushes I used to create this look. You definitely don’t have to have the Too Faced Natural Eye Neutral Eye Shadow Palette to do this look. This concept works with any eye shadows in similar colors! With these few easy steps, you will have a flawless look that will take no time at all. Just remember to blend, blend, blend! 🙂